Early on I played a lot of chess utilizing the Chessmaster for DS game on my son's Nintendo DS. When I played defensively, I lost most of my games. When I switched to a more aggressive style, I won more games. And more importantly (for me anyway), I enjoyed playing MUCH more. So, I switched from playing closed / controlled / defensive games to open / tactical / aggressive games. It has helped my development as a player. And I'm having much more fun.

I've often read that beginners should play 1. e4 and learn to play open games. I couldn't agree more! I was the guy that resisted that advice for a long a time. I'm glad I finally listened and made the switch.

Strangely enough, I am now seeking to learn how to play more positionally after a couple years of aggressive / attacking chess. But I imagine this is a natural progression that many players experience.

I’m in the process of trying to switch to a much more aggressive play style. One thing that is really helping me develop a more aggressive style is carefully studying the “fancy” checkmate patterns, such as Morphy’s mate, Greco’s mate, Anastasia’s mate, etc.. Getting into position for these mates often requires major sacrifices that can be easy to overlook, especially for defensive minded players. The good thing is that this means it can be easy for your opponent to overlook that you are threatening a sacrifice that leads to a forced mate.